Sephora Direct: Investing in Social Media Essay

Summary The company Sephora since 2008 through the creation of a new group has moved into direct marketing and digital initiatives, namely in the social networking world, initially through Facebook. Entering a new world where there are no clear rules or similar experience to help you make the best decisions in this area has been a real challenge. After more than two years in this new digital environment, Sephora are conducting the 2011 management planning requires a greater investment by the president of the company who is willing to provide the necessary funds and always when the company generates a higher return . Factors Innovations introduced in the beauty business with no major products beauty companies, Sephora implement two new ways to offer their products to customers: Allow test their products without obligation. Business Model inexpensive. The client has many products you want to buy in stores, through offering other cosmetics (about 288 brands of products priced almost equal to that of large businesses). With all that Sephora has turn into the largest retail chain of cosmetics medium enterprises but with wide market presence, which was a determining factor for the industry recognized manufacturers offered their produce factor which initially were denied. Vice President Julie Bornstein, whose main objective is to find a reason to justify further investment in the area of social media, the goal is to quantify the return on investment and justify the requirement for increased budgetary allocation for his department. The problem Determine how to measure the ROI that allows the fulfillment of the objectives planned. Analysis of innovations Direct Marketing Their loyalty program customer called Beauty Insiders, started in 2007, created with the intent to learn more about their customers, was strengthened with the inclusion of the idea not only provide discounts but provide benefits to their most frequent customers and the idea to unite the customers buying in store or online posting only your email address and date of birth, by e company was sending new one or even twice a week and the most frequent buyers sent them samples new products, and customers earned one point for every dollar spent on a purchase that could be redeemed for a product according to customer accumulate. Beauty Insiders Another innovation was the identification of customers who had an average annual purchases, which were known as clients VIB (Very Important Beauty Insider), who on the website had a distinctive icon, they were invited to special events at stores, and they are delivering gifts â€Å"Luxury,† and quick access to new products. The website Sephora.com Through the Web site www.sephora.com 2009 the company ventured into a new business model, sales online, which quickly became a very important business for Sephora because of its low costs and high margins generating revenue compared to a typical store. The company saw the need to promote their website and the best alternative was to invest heavily in attracting visitors through the purchase of thousands of keywords (Google AdWords) for brands, products and beauty-related terms, which represent the source most important new traffic to your website. Sephora stimulated offering online purchase including shipping on purchases over $ 50 plus free sample three products per order. This brings them to have 3 million visitors per month and 310,000 visits each day. Social Networks Program reviews and classification of Goods In 2008 the company made the decision to include in their website an application that allows customers to give their reviews even though this initiative was considered high risk, one study showed that most people were connected to the products instead of criticizing. This was promoted via email to Beauty Insiders, and in the first 24 hours had more than 32000 specifications and reviews and although initially the company sought to respond to customers, they decided that they are the same users who answer questions to others. Facebook After the positive experience of receiving reviews and ratings of products through its Web site and its Bazar Voice platform, Sephora decided to venture into other areas of social networking as it is Facebook, the 2009 created the fan page Sephora for customers to contact the company and also serve as a means of direct advertising campaigns, managing to be a channel that greatly influenced the sales. In just two years tripled its audience to 900,000 registered fans and thus Sephora partnered with Facebook to be part of a new feature of the service that allowed people to indicate â€Å"they like†, which allowed detecting the inclinations of their customers, conduct surveys about their products. Given the disadvantage of Facebook not to store questions and that clients all the information of a product, I took the initiative to insert into your website, a forum for questions and storing responses and allowing through an engine sophisticated search, consult them in a safe, private what they called Beauty Talk environment. Additionally allowed classifying people that offered their product knowledge to answer questions of others, establishing a standings in 35 different levels. Analysis of advantages and disadvantages Estimate the return on investment based on past experience – Determine the ROI based on the measurement of customer satisfaction through social networks, blogs, mobile applications and more. Advantages: Increased certainty of the return value of investment will contribute to a better analysis for decision-making. He has experience in the use of social networks and benefits achieved.

Service Request Sr-rm-022

Hugh McCauley, COO of Riordan Manufacturing has submitted service request SR-rm-022. The service request is to integrate existing variety of human resource (HR) tools into a single integrated application (Apollo Group, Inc. 2011). The new system will provide the organization with a more sophisticated, state-of-the art, information systems technology than what they currently have to better assist the HR department. Before the approval of the project funding, Hugh McCauley will need a detailed project plan that provides some guidance. Completion of the project will complete in six months so utilization of the new system can begin in the second quarter of next year (Apollo Group, Inc. 2011). BackgroundInstalled in 1992, Riordan Manufacturing’s current HRIS system is part of the financial systems package. It keeps track of employee’s personal information; pay rates, personal exemptions for tax purposes, hire date, seniority date, organizational information, and vacation hou rs. Changes to an employee’s information is done through a written change and submitted (on special forms) by the employee’s manager and entered by the payroll clerk. Training and development records are kept in an Excel worksheet by training and development specialist (Apollo Group, Inc. 2011). Applicant information for open positions is maintained by each recruiter. Resumes get stored in a central storage area. An excel spread sheet is used to track the status of applicants.A third party provider manages worker’s compensation. They keep their own records. Individual managers keep employee files because there is no central employee file area. Managers are also responsible for tracking FMLA absences and any requests for accommodation under the ADA. The results of job analyses, salary surveys, and personnel compensation decisions are kept in an excel spreadsheet by the compensation manager. Complaints, grievances, harassment complaints, etc. are tracked by the em ployee relations specialists and are in locked files in their offices.Information GatheringThe information gathering techniques used to development the requirements of the new system will be done through interviews and joint application design  (JAD). Interviews will be conducted on individuals informed about the operation and issues of the current system and needs for systems in future organizational activities (Valacich, George, & Hoffer, 2012). In order for the interviews to be effective certain guidelines must be met. The guidelines that will be included in the interview process are as follows: Plan the interview- Prepare interviewee by making an appointment and explaining the purpose of the interview. Prepare a checklist, an agenda, and questions. Be neutral- Avoid asking leading questions.Listen and take notes- Give your undivided attention to the interviewee and take notes or tape-record the interview (if permission is granted).  Review notes – Review your notes wi thin forty-eight hours of the meeting. If you discover follow-up questions or need additional information, contact the interviewee. Seek diverse views- Interview a wide range of people, including potential users and Managers.  (Valacich, George, & Hoffer, 2012).Interviews will be conducted on employee managers, the training and development specialists, recruiters, and the third-party provider that handles the worker’s compensation, compensation manager, and employee relation specialists. The questions that will be asked during the interview process are as follows:1. What is your name, job title and the department you work?2. What do you need and why do you need it, what system functionality do you need (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?3. What results do you wish to accomplish with this effort (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?4. What work processes do you wish to change through this selection and what should t he new processes look like (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?5. What are the business drivers for the new system, how does this system support the overall needs of the business (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?Once the interviews are completed by the analyst team, the interviews will be asked to participate in a joint application design (JAD). The joint application design team will consist of the analyst team, employee managers, the training and development specialists, recruiters, and the third-party provider that handles the worker’s compensation, compensation manager, and employee relation specialists.The primary purpose of using JAD in the analysis phase is to collect systems requirements simultaneously from the key people involved with the system (Valacich, George, & Hoffer, 2012). The JAD will be held at an off-site location in Atlanta, Georgia. Once the team is settled in, the discussion can begin. The in formation that needs to be discussed and agreed on is as follows:1. What type of application are you looking for, standalone PC, networked client/server, or mainframe (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?2. What operating system does it need to run on — Windows NT, UNIX, etc. (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?3. If it's a database application, what database does your company support, SQL, Oracle, DB2 (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?4. How will it connect to remote offices? Does it need to be web deployable (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?5. Does it make a difference what language the application is programmed in such as C++ or Visual Basic (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information System, 2002)?6. Is your IT department planning a major change in technology platforms in the next year (18 Steps to Selecting a Human Resource Information Syste m, 2002)?Project scope is a project management term for the combined objectives and  requirementsnecessary to complete a project (Project Scope, 2013). Project scope is important because it allows the system analyst team to estimate costs and the time required to finish the project. A plan is created for the proposed project for the team to follow. This baseline project plan customizes the standardized SDLC and specifies the time and resources needed for its execution (Valacich, George, & Hoffer, 2012).The team analyst believes that it is in the best interest of Riordan Manufacturing to discontinue the use of their old HRIS system and implement a new one. The old system requires paperwork to be filed and stored in unprotected areas. There are several managers responsible for the safety and protection of pertinent employee information that should be kept in a locked and secure area. ConclusionRiordan Manufacturing has taken the correct steps in implementing a new HRIS system. The g uidelines have been set and a team has been formed to discuss what the new system should include. The next step is to decide on what system to use and how the design should be. What security controls should be set and the tools that will be applied in the terms of data, processes, interfaces, and network.

Alone Together by Sherry Turkle Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Alone Together by Sherry Turkle - Research Paper Example Forming social networks is an inherent trait, rather an inherent need, of all human beings. Such social networks may include our family, our friends and our colleagues. Today we can share any kind of information with our social network using social networking websites such as Face book, Twitter and YouTube through blogs, forums, video, audio, photos, online profiles and status updates. In the last few years social networking and social media sharing has gained immense popularity amongst millions of users worldwide. (Kaplan, 2010) The presence of IT has revolutionized each and every aspect of our lives. Not a single aspect of modern man’s life has been left untouched by the sweeping presence of IT in the form of the computer, the internet and the social media. Despite the uncountable gifts of the IT age, the over-involvement in the use of IT as a social ambassador has a flip side to it, which has been discussed at length in Alone Together, a remarkable work by MIT technology specialist Sherry Turkle. The work sums up the author’s fifteen-year-long study of human lives in the digital age. The arguments presented by the author are based on her interviews with hundreds of children and adults regarding their use of technology and its impact on their interpersonal relationships. The book discusses the instabilities that have crept into the modern day relationships owing to digitization and how they have modified the aligned concepts of privacy, relationship and community. The thesis of this paper is that Sherry Turkle is convincing in her argument that our growing dependence on social media technology has eventually led to the destruction of our humanity. In the first half of her book, Turkle talks about social robots, or the sci-fi machines that apparently possess all human-like qualities required to facilitate our day-to-day chores. But the author

Tragic Flaw in Sophocles' Oedipus the King Essay

Tragic Flaw in Sophocles' Oedipus the King - Essay Example That way the audience can experience a proper moral fear that badness always brings forth bad result. In the case of Sophocles’ â€Å"Oedipus the King†, the character that passes out as â€Å"tragic flaw† in the Oedipus is no doubt his pride and arrogance. In this paper we will be looking at the principle of â€Å"tragic flaw† as postulated by Aristotle in the context of Sophocles’ play â€Å"Oedipus the King†. The idea of tragic flaw that became synonymous to Greek tragedy was postulated by Aristotle, which might explain why this principle featured prominently in almost all his poetics. Tragic flaw basically describes a hero in a story making some fundamental mistakes that are mostly triggered by pride or hubris, which forms his main flaw in an otherwise perfect character, thereby marking his downfall. There is strong evidence to suggest that the development of the principle of tragic flaw was informed by the need to respond to the principle of tragedy which despite dominating Greek plays for so long was being challenged by the likes of Plato on moral grounds. In this regard, the principle of tragedy was attacked ostensibly for corrupting the audience by alluding to the futility of being virtuous. According to Plato, tragedy corrupts the audience by showing good and virtuous people perishing instead of emerging triumphant. It is, therefore, extremely disheartening to see them falling by the wayside primarily because of their virtues and goodness. It was in response to this challenge that Aristotle decided to add some flaw to an otherwise heroic character so as to explain his downfall on moral ground. By so doing Aristotle had offered a solution to the principle of tragedy as presented by Plato and other Greek writers and playwrights. In the play the Oedipus the King Oedipus commits a number of mistakes that can be blamed on his pride, which forms the tragic flaw in his character. One of such mistakes is his impatience with Creon after embarking in a journey to Apollo’s temple to plead with him to save the city of Thebes from the plague that has destroyed crops and livestock while rendering women sterile. After the arrival of Creon from Apollo’s temple we see Oedipus commanding Creon to tell him what Apollo has to say concerning the plague despite Creon’s protestation on spilling the information in front of his subjects. This offer from Creon to do it in private should have awaken Oedipus to the reality that whatever he was about to hear was not good to be spilt in the midst of his subjects. However, in total disregard of Creon’s advice he stood his ground and received the information in the presence of his subject, something that smirk of extreme pride. A careful analysis of the play will show a keen reader that this is a dangerous mistake that Oedipus has made because the answer that comes from Creon set the stage for his downfall. It is also important to note that ha d he agreed to receive the message from Apollo in private, things would not have gone out of hand as they eventually did. King Oedipus curiosity for truth is arguably the worst trait that contributes to his downfall in this play. If only he had decided to forget about where he came from and concentrated on resolving issues surrounding the plague, then

Business and Managerial Economics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Business and Managerial Economics - Essay Example Trace the evolution of the rent and the quantity traded over time (in the long-run) (20 marks) An earthquake will affect not only the supply side but also the demand side of the housing market. On the supply side, the earthquake will reduce the supply of housing and, assuming that demand remained unchanged, the earthquake will lead to increases in rentals. However, demand does not remained unchanged in a major earthquake that caused significant damage to housing. Aftershocks take place and these sent jitters to consumers. City services like transport, electricity, and water are affected as well. Schools and workplaces may not be able to operate for some time. Thus, a major earthquake can send consumers to an exodus to locations safer from earthquakes and their aftershocks. In short, demand is affected as well. For this reason, it can happen house rent can remain unchanged or landowners may offer discounts to consumers. If demand is significantly reduced, house rent can even decrease and this seems to be the short-term effect in a strong earthquake everywhere. In the medium te rm as a location recovers from the earthquake, city and other services are restored and school/workplace operations normalize. But because supply is unable to respond quickly, housing supply may be fixed as demand is restored back to normal. Therefore, in the medium term, rentals may be higher than the immediate pre-earthquake levels. In this case, economic profit can be higher than normal and investors are encouraged to go into the housing sector. More housing units are built and the prices of house rentals decrease. The trend continues until the situation is normalized. This means that either house rentals are restored back to the pre-earthquake levels or the prices of rentals are back into the situation where economic profit is zero or â€Å"normal†. This discussion is similar to Varian (2005, p. 9). Restaurants that charge reasonable prices for food but

Answer Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Answer Questions - Essay Example There is hope in her revelation, but she says it as explained to her by Jesus. Both revelations and experiences preach the love of God, and the need to have a strong belief in him. Perpertua’s revelation shows God’s love and power, she saw a sign of victory over the devil. Julian’s revelations are also explanations of God’s love. She explains that irrespective of suffering caused by sin, God has a reason for it, and that reason is love. In one of her revelations, she explains how God loves us, and HE knows it is not our fault to sin, but he knows that sin brings pain, and so warns his people against sinning, but all is well for people will rejoice when they will understand the purpose of sin. They both understand human nature as having the body different from the soul and the spirituality of human beings. The body is considered the weak feature which leads humans to sin. St. Augustine for example, indicates that the sins committed by humans are of the flesh, but they corrupt the soul. Paul also indicates that flesh is the weak and powerless feature, therefore vulnerable to sin. Transformation in the human heart and soul comes from interaction between the features of human nature. Pauls believes that living by the Spirit is living a life free of sin. Augustine considers himself, a fully grown person spiritually, for he was no longer driven by ambition which was accompanied by â€Å"heavy servitude in the hope of wealth and reputation† They include; the excessive adoration of saints, corruption within the church, the justification that one must be saved through the church and faith, and the low intellectual and moral standards of the ordained priests, and that the scripture and tradition are of the same inspiration in Christianity. The prologue describes Jesus the person, and his ministry. In his interaction with Nicodemus, Jesus is shown as the son of God, and the teacher. The son of God is through

Caracass Current Sanitation and Energy Problem Essay

Caracass Current Sanitation and Energy Problem - Essay Example According to the findings, it can, therefore, be said that the concern by scientists that the combustion of fossil fuels has resulted in surplus carbon dioxide gives a reason for examining this problem so that a quick solution can be found and that no devastating effects are created in Caracas. An additional significance for looking into this problem is that, by researching on it, a recognizable power generation technology that is environmentally friendly, mechanically reasonable, and economically profitable can be discovered so that the city can experience a real option for builders of fresh capacity. Further, energy policy can be formulated, basing on a high degree of energy proficiency and more use of renewable energy. This paper will, therefore, look at the problem chronologically, outlining the body in terms of the record of the earlier problems facing the city for a deeper understanding; a collection of possible ideas and solutions; and finally to link the whole research to the energy problem as well as brainstorm suggested improvements for the welfare of the  city.